Dagan, Netanel and Rennie, Ailie
Imagining freedom: Lifers, liberty and the meaning of parole - Social & Legal Studies - 35(2), Apr, 2026: p.273-294
Bridging criminological and philosophical discourses, this article builds upon Berlin's ‘concepts of liberty’ to theorise the meaning of parole release. Through qualitatively analysing 130 Israeli lifers’ Parole Board hearings, we found that lifers focused more heavily on their loss of – and potential to regain – positive liberty than on negative liberty. Here, we detail how lifers progressed beyond reflecting upon their past and their current state of imprisonment (‘release from’), towards thinking about their present (‘realising release’) and their future (‘release to’). The findings, therefore, demonstrate the normative importance of the parole process in assisting lifers’ constructions of identity, agency, and hope.-Reproduced
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/09646639251346949?_gl=1*1m3fhz4*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTU4MDM5NTgxNy
4xNzc4MTM3NjE0*_ga_60R758KFDG*czE3NzgxMzc2MTQkbzEkZzEkdDE3NzgxMzc2ODYkajUzJGwwJGg2MDIyMTY4Mg..
Parole, Lifers, Liberty, Qualitative analysis, Penal theory.
Imagining freedom: Lifers, liberty and the meaning of parole - Social & Legal Studies - 35(2), Apr, 2026: p.273-294
Bridging criminological and philosophical discourses, this article builds upon Berlin's ‘concepts of liberty’ to theorise the meaning of parole release. Through qualitatively analysing 130 Israeli lifers’ Parole Board hearings, we found that lifers focused more heavily on their loss of – and potential to regain – positive liberty than on negative liberty. Here, we detail how lifers progressed beyond reflecting upon their past and their current state of imprisonment (‘release from’), towards thinking about their present (‘realising release’) and their future (‘release to’). The findings, therefore, demonstrate the normative importance of the parole process in assisting lifers’ constructions of identity, agency, and hope.-Reproduced
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/09646639251346949?_gl=1*1m3fhz4*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTU4MDM5NTgxNy
4xNzc4MTM3NjE0*_ga_60R758KFDG*czE3NzgxMzc2MTQkbzEkZzEkdDE3NzgxMzc2ODYkajUzJGwwJGg2MDIyMTY4Mg..
Parole, Lifers, Liberty, Qualitative analysis, Penal theory.